The aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" damaged in the accident of a floating dock

The only Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov under repair was damaged in the accident of the floating dock PD-50 at the ship repair plant in Murmansk. The incident happened on Tuesday night when the dock was flooded (necessary for the withdrawal of the ship): a heavy crane damaged the hull of the aircraft carrier and its flight deck, TASS news agency reported, citing the President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexey Rakhmanov.

“We are now assessing the amount of damage. The crane fell from the deck from a height of about 15 m, it is clear that there are damage to the hull and damage to the deck, but, fortunately, this happened in those areas that are not associated with the operation of some "vital" cruiser equipment " - said Rakhmanov.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on the fact of violation of safety rules in the organization of repair work, resulting in the death of a person through negligence. According to preliminary data from the investigation, the cause of the incident was a violation of the technical operation of the ship-raising structures. “As a result of the incident, five people were injured: four workers were removed from the water with signs of frostbite and taken to a medical facility, one is considered missing,” said TFR.

According to the TASS source in the operational departments, the crane is still on the flight deck, the scale of damage is being specified. During the day, divers will inspect the underwater part of the Kuznetsov to ensure no damage. Later, the USC clarified that the damage is probably not serious. “According to initial estimates, the ship did not receive any damage that could affect the timing of the work,” said a representative of the corporation.

Launched in 1987, the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov in February 2017 began to be repaired after participating in a military operation off the coast of Syria in the Mediterranean Sea. During the operation, two deck-based aircraft were lost: the Su-33 and MiG-29KR, the pilots successfully ejected. In the course of repairs on the ship, all the boilers will be completely replaced, the cost of the work was estimated at 50 billion rubles. It is expected that Kuznetsova will be repaired by the end of 2020 and in 2021 it will return to the Russian Navy.

After the accident, the Kuznetsov was moored to the berth of the 35th ship repair plant in Murmansk, which is a branch of Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center JSC. Press Service "Stars" reported that the materiel of the ship in the incident was not injured. According to the "Asterisks", the cause of the accident was interruptions in the power supply of the dock, which caused unplanned filling of ballast tanks and its sharp immersion in off-design mode. Power outages in the Murmansk region occur from October 26 due to snow sticking to power lines. On the eve of the emergency shutdowns occurred in Murmansk, Roslyakov and Severomorsk.

The governor of the Murmansk region, Marina Kovtun, on her Inst-gram page reported that two victims of the incident with the dock are in hospitals, one person has not yet been found. “It’s too early to talk about the causes of emergency. The work of the rescue and diving groups of the Northern Fleet is scheduled for 9 am Conclusions will be made by the investigating authorities. Doc at 3.30 am was completely flooded. “Admiral Kuznetsov” in tow was taken out of the dock to a safe distance, ”she wrote.

The floating dock PD-50 of the 82nd ship-repair plant in Murmansk was built in 1980 by order of the USSR Navy specifically for the repair of aircraft carrying cruisers, the construction of which was then launched in the Soviet Union, and is one of the largest floating docks in the world. According to Mikhail Barabanov from the Moscow Defense Brief, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov apparently managed to dock during this repair in the dock, and further problems with docking of this aircraft carrier (repair of which is not finished) apparently depend on the recovery rate dock.